Merchants on Amazon will see the Amazon returns window extended to the 31st of May for all products sold between the 15th of February and the 30th of April. This will include products fulfilled by Amazon as well as those which merchants ship themselves.
The reasoning is that many customers may be unable or unwilling to return unwanted items at the moment, due to the need to visit a physical premises in order to do so. Whilst online merchants will either have a collection from their warehouse or home, or are familiar with alternatives such as Parcel Post Boxes, Royal Mail Service Counters at Delivery Offices, Lockers from the likes of InPost and parcelshops, consumers might not be so savvy hence the extended returns window.
However this does beg the question as to how many returns will simply be used and returned once they are no longer needed and naturally merchants will be wary about the extended Amazon returns window resulting in a potential deluge of returns arriving in two month’s time for anything purchased over a 105 day period. The good news is that generally extended returns periods don’t increase the quantity of returns exponentially, but what they do do is instil consumer confidence in making a purchase in the first place.
“We are closely monitoring the developments of COVID-19. Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our customers, selling partners, employees, and the communities we serve. To give customers more time to return items in these challenging times, we have temporarily extended the return window of our returns policy. We request that you match our returns policy for the applicable Amazon website, regardless of your fulfilment solution.
For orders on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, Amazon.nl, and Amazon.com.tr
Most items ordered on any of these websites between 15 February 2020 and 30 April 2020 can now be returned until 31 May 2020.
For orders on Amazon.es
Most items ordered on Amazon.es after 15 February 2020 can be returned up to 30 days after the official restoration of freedom of movement in Spain. Please keep in mind that, according to the Royal Decree-Law of 18 March, the deadlines for returning products are suspended and subject to the restrictions on freedom of movement enacted by the Spanish government.”
– Amazon
